News & Views

Cannes Lions / Creative Effectiveness Awards

The 2012 Grand Prix for CreativeEffectiveness has been awarded to the Axe Excitecampaign developed by BBH, London. Jury President David Jones, Global CEO of Havas and Euro RSCG Worldwide, said that the campaign was clear evidence of what 'we probably already know...that creativity and effectiveness do not sit at opposite sides of the spectrum.'

While the jury was practically unanimous in awarding the Grand Prix to the Axe campaign, the other contender for the top spot was Febreze Breathe Happy, created by Grey, New York. The Febreze work scooped a Lion, however Jones said that in the 'tussle between Unilever and Procter and Gamble' the former triumphed because the work was more 'powerful creatively'. The jury president explained that while the Febreze paper was a terrific proof of effectiveness...it didn't really teach us anything new.'

A total of six lions were given in the Creative Effectiveness category, with the jury stating that more campaigns could have potentially received lions if their case studies had been more thoroughly written. Martin Weigel, head of planning at W+K, Amsterdam said he thought a lot of people had 'underestimated the level of difficulty of the category' and not sufficiently proved the effectiveness of their campaigns. Jones singled out Puma's After HoursAthlete, by Droga5, New York as an example of one such case, calling it a 'missed opportunity' and stating while it was very popular 'from a creativity and strategic standpoint, it just didn't cut it for effectiveness'.

The jury also warned that agencies should not be too impressed with their social media statistics. The Creative Effectiveness Lions honour creativity which has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client's business - something which goes far beyond views on YouTube.

2012 marks the second year that Creative Effectiveness has been a category at the Cannes Lions. There were 92 entries for this year's awards, a 35% decrease from last year (142). The shortlist of entries and full results can be found on the Cannes Lions website.